SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA
NASA News Release on loss of COLUMBIA (Courtesy of NASA). STS-107 MCC Status Report #19 The Space Shuttle Columbia and its
seven astronauts were lost today when the vehicle broke up over north central
Texas during its reentry from orbit.
Communications were lost with Columbia and its crew at around 8:00 a.m. CST,
while the shuttle was traveling about 18 times the speed of sound at an altitude
of 207,000 feet. Columbia was 16 minutes from landing at the Kennedy Space
Center when flight controllers at Mission Control lost contact with the vehicle.
Columbia was returning from a 16-day scientific research mission, its 28th
flight, which launched on January 16. Aboard Columbia were Commander Rick Husband, completing his second flight,
Pilot William McCool, wrapping up his first mission, Mission Specialists Dave
Brown, also completing his first mission, Kalpana Chawla, on her second flight,
Laurel Clark, a first-time space traveler, Payload Commander Mike Anderson,
ending his second flight, and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon of the Israel Space
Agency, on his first flight. Prior to the loss of communications with Columbia, the shuttle’s return to
Earth appeared perfectly normal. After assessing some wispy fog near the
shuttle’s three-mile long landing strip at KSC before dawn, Entry Flight
Director Leroy Cain gave approval for the firing of the shuttle’s braking
rockets to begin its descent from orbit. Husband and McCool began the deorbit burn to allow Columbia to slip out of
orbit at 7:15 a.m. CST. There was no indication of anything abnormal with
Columbia’s reentry until the last communications between Mission Control and
the crew. At Columbia’s intended landing site, NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe and
Associate Administrator for Space Flight William Readdy met with the families of
the astronauts to offer their condolences, vowed to uncover the cause of the
accident and press ahead with the Shuttle program. “This is indeed a tragic day for the NASA family, for the families of the
astronauts who flew on STS-107, and likewise is tragic for the nation,” said
O’Keefe. “We have no indication that the mishap was caused by anything or anyone on
the ground,” O’Keefe added. In a briefing, Chief Flight Director Milt Heflin said that around 7:53 a.m.
CST, just minutes before communications were lost with Columbia, flight
controllers detected indications of a loss of hydraulic system temperature
measurements associated with Columbia’s left wing, followed three minutes
later by an increase in temperatures on the left main gear tires and brakes. At
7:58 a.m., flight controllers noted a loss of bondline temperature sensor data
in the area of the left wing followed a minute later by a loss of data on tire
temperatures and pressures for the left inboard and outboard tires. After several attempts to try to contact Columbia, Cain declared a
contingency, whereby flight controllers began preserving documentation regarding
the entry phase of the flight. Recovery forces fanned out from Texas to
Louisiana to try to recover debris that will be pertinent to the mishap
investigation. Space Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore said several teams have been
organized to gather data for analysis and will report to an external
investigation board that was appointed by Administrator O’Keefe. Dittemore
added that no specific orbiter debris or crew remains have been positively
identified at this time, and that there is no leading theory for the cause of
the accident. Dittemore said the processing of other shuttles at the Kennedy Space Center
for future launches has been temporarily halted to enable engineers to review
data regarding vehicle processing and to focus attention on capturing all
pertinent information involving Columbia’s prelaunch preparations. NASA managers will be meeting on a regular basis to begin reviewing data
associated with Columbia’s investigation. The next status briefing from the
Johnson Space Center is tentatively scheduled from the Johnson Space Center,
Houston, TX at 12:00 p.m. CST Sunday. It will be seen on NASA Television with
two-way question and answer capability for reporters from NASA centers. NASA TV can be found on AMC-2, Transponder 9C, vertical polarization at 85
degrees West longitude, 3880 MHz, with audio at 6.8 MHz. On the International Space Station, Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox,
Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit were
informed of the loss of Columbia and its crew shortly after a Russian Progress
resupply vehicle undocked from the ISS. Filled with discarded items no longer
needed on the ISS, the Progress was commanded to deorbit by Russian flight
controllers and reentered the Earth’s atmosphere. A new Progress cargo ship will be launched Sunday from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:59 a.m. CST (1259 GMT) filled with supplies for
the Expedition 6 crew. It is scheduled to dock to the ISS Tuesday morning. ISS
program officials say, if necessary, the current resident crew could remain in
orbit until late June with the supplies being ferried to the station on the new
Progress. Additional status reports will be issued as new information becomes
available.
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